Freight Train will be a century old in the year 2005. Its author didn't quite live to become a centenarian herself, though she did win a Grammy (Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording for Elizabeth Cotten Live) when she was 93. Both the song and its author are inexorably linked in the minds of most anyone aware of either, yet this DVD vividly demonstrates that there was far more to Elizabeth Cotten and her music than Freight Train.

This DVD presents three concert performances by Elizabeth Cotten recorded in 1969, 1978 and 1980. Recollections of her life and music are prompted in the 1978 concert by interviewer Mike Seeger, who played a major role in recording Cotten's repertoire. Mike is also close by in the 1969 and 1980 performances.

From 1969: Freight Train, What a Friend We Have In Jesus, Ruben, Vestapol, Washington Blues, A Jig and Spanish Flang Dang.

From 1978: Freight Train, Wilson Rag, Georgia Buck, Rattler, Spanish Flang Dang, Judy's Got a Rambling Mind, Mama, Your Son's Done Gone, Wreck of the Old 97, Jesus Is Tenderly Calling Today, Vestapol, Buck Dance, Oh, Babe, It Ain't No Lie, Ontario Blues, Mama, Where's the Baby and others.

From 1980: Graduation March, Freight Train, Spanish Flang Dang and Shake Sugaree. Running Time: 103mins.

Downloadable pdf booklet available here.

vestapol 13019dvd  $24.95